


We Move Forward

by cowboys_in_space



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Ash's kids are cuties, I promise, SO, Shock, a universe where Ash grows up!, and he's a dad!, he'd be 31 in this, since Pokemon is 21 years old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 03:04:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14416302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cowboys_in_space/pseuds/cowboys_in_space
Summary: Ash Ketchum's two daughters, Melody and Reina, are ten years old! Ten year olds can get a beginner Pokémon from Professor Gary Oak, the town's Pokémon expert, to start their Pokémon journey. How will Ash deal with his children leaving the nest? What antics will he persue? Stay tuned to find out!(AKA, the Dad!Ash fic that only one person asked for)





	We Move Forward

Ash beamed with pride as he waited outside Oak’s lab for his two children. They had made it on time (thank god), but only because that Ash had set seven separate alarms. Only one of them had actually gone off in the morning, and that hadn’t even been what woke him up. It took Pikachu shocking him awake. He had no idea how his family managed to function.

The door to the lab swung open. Ash spun around to face the people gathered to cheer Melody and Reina on -- practically all of Palette Town! “Alright, as we rehearsed!” Ash called, and raised his hand to conduct. Pikachu mirrored his movement.

“Oh no,” he heard Melody whisper, and Ash shot a grin behind him at his girls. Professor Gary Oak raised an eyebrow at Ash, one that clearly said, “ _ Are you trying to make up for the fact that I had a better send off than you?” _ Ash chose to ignore it.

“One,” (“Pi”) “two.” (“Ka.”) “One two three!” (“Pi-ka-chu!”)

The whole group began to sing. “Happy Pokemon to you! Happy Pokemon to you! Happy Pokemon dear Melody and Reina! Happy Pokemon to you!” All of the singers applauded. Ash didn’t think he’d ever seen Melody so red, or Reina try so hard not to laugh. An accomplishment! 

Ash ran up to his daughters and pulled them both into a hug. “I’m gonna miss you two so much!”

“Daaaad,” they both groaned in unison, even as Reina started to laugh.

“Aren’t you at least supposed to ask us what Pokemon we got before saying goodbye?” Melody asked, voice muffled from where it was pressed into her father’s chest.

“Oh yeah,” Ash said, releasing them both. “What did you end up with?”

Melody and Reina both drew their Pokeballs and threw them. Out of Melody’s popped a Charmander, while Reina had a Bulbasaur.

Ash knelt down to them. “Hi guys, I’m Ash!” he said, offering them his hand to shake. Charmander took it immediately and enthusiastically, while Bulbasaur hesitated before extending its vine and giving it one shake.  It retreated to Reina’s side immediately. Ash was so used to seeing beaten and abused Pokemon at his rescue senter, it was almost strange to see two Pokemon this healthy. A good strange, but strange. Most days the only stable Pokemon he saw was Pikachu. “Wow, it looks like you guys are already bonding!” Ash said with a huge smile, as he watched Bulbasaur try to hide behind Reina’s legs. 

“Char,” Charmander said with a little nod.

“I named it Dobby,” Reina said, leaning down to pat Bulba -- Dobby on the head.

“And mine is Ember!” Melody declared. At hearing it’s name, Ember leapt into Melody’s arms. She caught it with a delighted laugh.

Pikachu jumped onto Ash’s shoulder as he stood up. “You’ve named them?” he asked, him and Pikachu tilting their heads identically.

“Not everyone is boring enough not to name their Pokemon,” Gary said, jabbing Ash with his elbow. 

“Hey!” Pikachu laughed. “Traitor,” Ash muttered.

The two girls returned their Pokemon to their Pokeballs and pocketed them.

“ _ Now  _ you get to say goodbye!” Reina declared.

Bit his lip, feeling himself tear up. He forced a smile and produced two backpacks from where he’d been hiding them in the crowd. “I packed your sneakers and jeans,” he said, unloading the items into his daughters’ arms, “nice clean shirts and underwear and your favorite snacks and some tea in case you want something hot, but be careful not to burn yourself! And a pair of rubber gloves to do your laundry and a new clothes line to hang it out to dry -”

“Daaaaaaaaad,” they chorused again, even Reina going red in the face at his antics.

Ash sighed. “I’m gonna miss you.”

Reina gently placed all of her stuff on the ground and opened her arms for a hug. Ash gladly accepted, Melody and Pikachu piling on over them, turning it into a full-family group hug. “We’re gonna miss you too,” Reina said.

“We’ll call you as soon as we get to the next town,” Melody promised. And if both girls squeezed a bit tighter, well, Ash wasn’t going to say anything about that.

When they finally let go, Ash knew that he was tearing up. But he didn’t start crying until he saw them both retreating, him waving them off with the rest of the town. “You’ve got this!” he shouted after them, and they both turned to wave one last time before they disappeared over the hill, onto their very own journey.

“You’ve got this too, you know,” Gary said, stepping up next to Ash. “You’ve raised them well, and they’ll be fine. You can handle being an empty nester. You’ve got this.”

Ash smiled gratefully at Gary. “Yeah, you’re right. I’ve got this.”

***

Ash did not have this. He was pacing around like a madman, pulling at his hair, thinking up all of the ways that things could go wrong. Who let ten year olds out to face the world by themselves, anyways? What kind of system was that? Did they know how much could go wrong? What if the girls didn’t eat? What if they only ate  _ junk food?  _ Ash shuddered at the thought.

“Pi!” Pikachu said. Ash looked over, where Pikachu was sitting on top of the computer/phone unit.

“I don’t have any way to track them from here,” Ash said, shrugging helplessly. 

“Pika,” Pikachu flipped the phone off it’s hook with its tail.

“You want me to call someone? To calm down?”

“Pi,” it said with a nod.

Ash picked up the phone. He thought for a second, before dialing the number. It was hardly a wait before Misty picked up the phone. Her hair was slightly damp, and he could see kids training their water Pokemon in the background. Must have been a busy day over at the Cerulean gym. “Hey!” she said, smiling at Ash. “How’d the big day go?”

“Fine,” Ash said, voice pinched.

“Uh oh, what’s wrong?” she asked, waving at her students and calling something to them before going into the less crowded hall.

“It’s just… do you remember my first day on my Pokemon journey?”

“The day you stole  _ and broke  _ my bike?” She rolled her eyes. “No, I don’t recall.”

“I almost died that day! What if something similar happens to them?! What if-”

“I’m gonna stop you right there. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that your daughters aren’t as stupid as you were.”

“Hey!”

“Think of it as a compliment to your parenting. Most kids don’t end up in half the trouble that we did! We were a special case, inspired by both your dumbassery and all of us being particularly good with Pokemon.”

“But they were raised by me! What if some of my dumbassery rubbed off on them? And they’re amazing with Pokemon, way better than I was back then! They were raised by me in a PLACE FILLED WITH INJURED AND ABUSED POKEMON WHO THEY COULD HANDLE WITH ENOUGH CARE NOT TO HURT THEM MORE! My daughters are prodigies, Misty! Pokemon prodigies raised by me! There is no way that they won’t attract trouble!”

“Woah, calm down. Take a deep breath!” Ash listened to neither of those, as someone in the background shouted for Misty. “I have to go, but trust me. They’re ready for this, and they’ll be fine.”

“Yeah. Alright. Bye.” Ash hung up the phone and turned to Pikachu. “I’m about to do something incredibly stupid,” he told it solemnly. It just tilted its head as Ash picked the phone back up and dialed another number.

“You’re already freaking out, aren’t you?” Gary asked as soon as he picked up the phone.

“I need you to do me a favor,” Ash said, trying to look as pitiful as possible.

“Um… depends what it is?” 

“I need you to run the sanctuary for a little while.”

“Oh, no way, Ketchum. Not happening.”

***

After Gary agreed to look after the sanctuary, Ash was free to follow the same path he took twenty one years ago. The path to Viridian City. Pikachu was giving him judgy eyes the entire time that he packed his brilliant disguise (a fake mustache and an old hat of his that he’s pretty sure he never showed the kids. Flawless.).

“This is going to work,” Ash told it. “I’m just gonna go to Viridian, see that they’re okay, and then come right back. They won’t even know I was there!” Pikachu somehow managed to look even more judgemental. An accomplishment. “You don’t have to come with me, then.” Ash crossed his arms. “I can do this on my own.”

“Chu,” Pikachu sighed, before hopping onto Ash’s shoulder. 

Ash laughed. “That desperate to relive the glory days, huh?” he teased. 

“Pi,” Pikachu’s cheeks crackled with electricity warningly.

“Alright, yeah, let’s not actually reenact the first time we did this, please.” Pikachu let out a disappointed sigh.

The drive to Veridian (yes, Ash chose to drive, he still wasn’t comfortable walking all that way after he  _ nearly died  _ the first time) was shockingly uneventful. When he got there, he immediately went for the Pokecenter. 

“Hey Joy!” Ash called, waving to the woman behind the counter. Her pink hair was streaked with grey, and she had little smile lines around her eyes, but other than that her age didn’t show. 

“Well, either I’m seeing things or that’s Ash Ketchum!” she said, standing and moving around the counter to pull him in for a swift hug. “How long has it been?” she asked, smiling at him.

“Gosh, it must have been a few months now!” he said, smiling at her.

“That’s a good thing -- it means that none of my Pokemon have needed a new home in a while,” she smiled at that. “But that does mean that you have no business here, so to what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Well, uh, you may remember that Reina and Melody are ten now?”

“You want me to tell you when they get here, don’t you?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Could you? I just want to see them, in person. See that they made it here safe and sound.”

“I understand. You don’t have to worry; I doubt that we’ll have a poorly-timed Team Rocket attack this time around.”

Ash’s eyes got wide. “I was so worried about them getting here safe, I hadn’t even thought about Team Rocket! What if they do come?”

“Oh no. What have I started?”

“Joy, they’re only ten years old! They have only just started training! There’s no way the two of them could stand up to Team Rocket!”

“As I recall, you were the same way when you did it.”

“Well, yeah, but that was Jessy and James! They were, like, the worst members of Team Rocket! What if someone actually competent comes along this time?”

“I promise you, Team Rocket won’t show up. There hasn’t been any petty crimes in the area in weeks. Your kids are fine.”

“... if you say so.” Pikachu tugged on the strap of Ash’s backpack. “Oh, right, the disguise! Thanks bud!”

“The… disguise.”

“Chu,” Pikachu said with a roll of its eyes.

“I don’t want them to know that I’ve followed them!” Ash said, clutching the strap of his backpack defensively.

“Right. That will work. I’m sure that no part of this plan could go wrong.”

“You were a lot nicer when I was ten,” Ash grumbled.

“I was just unwilling to be sarcastic towards a ten year old,” she said, smile sweet as sugar.

***

Reina and Melody showed up towards the evening, talking and laughing, Ember and Dobby out of their Pokeballs and looking around curiously. The sight of it brought a smile to Ash’s face.

“Well, hello you two!” Joy called, smiling at them.

“Hello Nurse Joy!” the two of them chorused. 

Reina turned to the two Pokemon and said to them, “That’s Nurse Joy. She’s someone who heals Pokemon!”

Melody turned to Joy. “These are Dobby and Ember!” She gestured to each Pokemon as she spoke.

“Hello, you two!” Joy said. “It’s nice to meet you!”

“Do you think we could borrow your phone?” Melody asked. “We told Dad that we’d call as soon as we got to town.”

Ash felt his blood run cold. He wasn’t home to answer. Joy shot him a look to him before smiling. “Of course you can!” she said, gesturing to the wall of phone computers.

They dialed, and Gary picked up on the third ring. Ash glanced over to the video feed, to see Gary with three Cacoonas hanging from his arms and a Slowpoke in his lap. He really was good with Pokemon.

“Professor Oak?!” Melody and Reina asked in unison. Ash cringed. The moment was coming.

“Hey there!” Gary said, smiling at the camera.

“Um… don’t take this the wrong way…” Reina started.

“What are you doing there?!” Melody cut in.

“Your dad wanted to see that you guys got there safely in person. Or something. He wasn’t making much sense, but he can be hard to say no to.”

And that was the moment when they noticed Ash. Sitting there. He waved once. “Hey.”

Reina sighed. “Thanks for watching the Pokemon, Professor Oak,” she said, never once taking her eyes off of Ash. “Goodbye!” Melody hung up the phone.

Then Reina started laughing. That full, belly laugh that she so rarely did, the type of laugh that made tears stream down her face. Melody started to laugh along with her.

“Did you really think that mustache was a disguise?” Melody asked, doubling over.

“I think the mustache suits you!” Reina added.

Ash laughed too. “Should I grow one?”

“Definitely,” his girls said in unison. They all three laughed harder over that image, and Ash could have sworn he heard Joy join in, too.

When all of the laughing was done, Reina looked at him seriously. “Thanks for checking up on us. Do you feel better now?” she asked.

Ash thought about it. His girls were there. They were safe. They were competent -- he’d seen it with his own eyes. “Yeah, I do.”

***

When he got home, and comforted Slowpoke from the loss of Gary, he gave Misty another call.

“So, how are you holding up?” she asked, smiling at him.

“I think I’ll be okay.” And he was.

**Author's Note:**

> Official Lore on Melody and Riena: They were adopted by Ash at three and a half years old, after it was found that their birth parents were abusive. Since they had trouble trusting adults, the people in charge decided to see if the local expert in helping abused Pokemon could help abused children. They bonded, and Ash decided that he was adopting them within an hour of their meeting. He never regretted it.


End file.
